Quế Ngọc Hải


Quế Ngọc Hải is a Vietnamese professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for V.League 1 club Đông Á Thanh Hóa and the Vietnam national team. He is considered one of the best defenders in V.League 1 history.
Ngọc Hải represented Vietnam at under-19 and under-23 level before making his full international debut in September 2014. He captained the Vietnam national during many years.

Club career

Sông Lam Nghệ An

Trần Anh Khoa incident

In the 25th round of the 2015 V-League between Sông Lam Nghệ An and SHB Đà Nẵng, SHB Đà Nẵng midfielder Trần Anh Khoa was fouled by Quế Ngọc Hải of Sông Lam Nghệ An. Hải two-footed Khoa, hitting him in the knee. Khoa was unable to continue playing and was taken off the field on a stretcher. Khoa's injury was diagnosed as very serious and he had to travel to Singapore for surgery. Doctors estimated that he would need to rest for one year and had only a 50% chance of returning to the field. After the match, Hải was penalized by the VFF: he was banned from playing for six months and was ordered to pay for all of Khoa's medical expenses. The amount that Hải had to pay Khoa was around 800 million đồng.
On 17 December 2015, after SHB Đà Nẵng provided detailed costs of Anh Khoa's surgery, travel, medicine, etc., totaling 834 million đồng, Quế Ngọc Hải and a representative of Sông Lam Nghệ An handed over the money in cash to Anh Khoa. Of the above money, 400 million đồng was donated by Đoàn Nguyên Đức, 70 million đồng came from donations from the Sông Lam Nghệ An fan club, and the rest was provided by the sponsors of Sông Lam Nghệ An. This foul effectively ended Trần Anh Khoa's professional football career.

International career

U-23

#DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.7 June 2015Bishan, Bishan Stadium3–04–02015 Southeast Asian Games
2.15 June 2015Kallang, National Stadium5–05–02015 Southeast Asian Games

Vietnam

No.DateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.22 November 2014Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam1–02–22014 AFF Championship
2.16 January 2019Hazza bin Zayed Stadium, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates2–02–02019 AFC Asian Cup
3.15 October 2019Kapten I Wayan Dipta Stadium, Gianyar, Indonesia2–03–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification
4.11 June 2021Al-Maktoum Stadium, Dubai, United Arab Emirates2–12–12022 FIFA World Cup qualification
5.27 December 2022Mỹ Đình National Stadium, Hanoi, Vietnam2–03–02022 AFF Championship
6.15 June 2023Lạch Tray Stadium, Hải Phòng, Vietnam1–01–0Friendly

Personal life

Ngọc Hải was born in Diễn Châu District. At an early age, due to financial difficulties, he moved to Vinh, where his parents made a living as fruit sellers. Ngọc Hải and his older brother Ngọc Mạnh are very close and attended the Sông Lam Nghệ An football academy together. Ngọc Mạnh suffered a serious knee injury however, and with little money the family had to rely on Ngọc Hải to work hard and become professional, both to provide for his family and pay for his brothers surgery.
After scoring the opening goal against Indonesia in the 2014 AFF Suzuki Cup Ngọc Hải lifted his shirt to reveal a picture of Nguyễn Hữu Thắng to thank his former coach for the opportunities he gave him.

Honours

Sông Lam Nghệ An
Viettel
Vietnam
Individual